Curse of the Menino
Beantown mayor’s premature Patriots parade plan palaver freaks out the fans. Meanwhile, what about Boston’s Super Tuesday electorate? You vote here:
Civic concerns via Boston Herald, your friendly neighborhood tabloid:
Superstitious fans slammed the Menino administration yesterday for blabbing about preliminary plans for a Super Bowl victory rolling rally Tuesday, warning it could jinx the perfect-season Pats.
New York isn’t jumping the gun, pigskin prognosticators point out, so why should Boston?
“It leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” said 2003 Patriots Fan of the Year Karen Cardoza, 43, of Rhode Island. “Realistically people make plans ahead of time, but they just shouldn’t say anything.”
Mayor Thomas M. Menino has said the city is making contingency plans for a Patriots Super Bowl victory bash Tuesday, but the news has drawn pushback over worries that celebration chaos would blunt voter turnout on Super Tuesday.
Meanwhile, New York city officials are tight-lipped about plans for a Giants victory march through the streets of Gotham.
“We in New York always find a way to honor our teams, but we’re not going to jinx them by discussing any plans beforehand,” Stu Loeser, spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said in response to a Herald inquiry.
How’s that work, anyway?
The night before Super Bowl XXXIX against the Philadelphia Eagles, Patriots coach Bill Belichick showed the team the street-by-street Eagles victory parade route. The Patriots won 24-21.
So how about those Boston voters? You vote here:
Furious elderly and disabled groups stunned by the city’s plans to hold a Patriots Super Bowl parade on Super Tuesday fear floods of fans will form an offensive line for frail voters at polling stations.
“Navigating through the crowd is going to be hard for anybody, let alone somebody who has a disability,” said Bill Henning, director of the Boston Center for Independent Living.
City sources familiar with the proposed route said if a rolling rally is held, it would pass several polling stations as it rumbled along Boylston Street and Tremont Street, past Boston Common before stopping at City Hall, accompanied by potentially tens of thousands of Pats fans.
At the same time, thousands of residents will be heading to cast their votes in the presidential primary at polling stations including the public library in Copley Square, City Hall and the State House.
Jessica Costantino, director of advocacy for AARP Massachusetts, urged its members to get absentee ballots now in case they cannot reach their polling stations Tuesday.
“We are concerned about anything that limits people’s access to voting in this important election,” she said.
If the Patriots win the Super Bowl in Arizona on Sunday, a parade would be held Tuesday, the earliest the team would arrive home.
Eight marquee players are leaving Wednesday for the Feb. 10 Pro Bowl in Hawaii, city officials said, making Tuesday the best choice for a Pats rally.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:28 am Comments (2) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008
2 Responses to “Curse of the Menino”
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January 30th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Super Bowl, Super Tuesday.
So many Supers, so little time.
Hard to differentiate between sports and politics these daze.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
So what happens if the Giants win?